Malawi: Bharti Airtel spends $100m

  1. Posted on Wednesday 23 June 2010 - 11:21
    Mtheto Lungu
    Image of Mtheto Lungu
    Mtheto Lungu, AfricaNews reporter in Lilongwe, Malawi
    Bharti Airtel International is to spend US$100 million on Zain Malawi in the next three years. An executive officer of Zain Manoj Kohli told the press the India telecommunication firm intends to completely rebrand Zain by September along with all other Zain operations on the African continent.
    Zain quarterly profits down 31% after sale of Zain Africa
    “Just overnight you will sleep with Zain and wake up the following day with a completely rebranded Airtel in the whole of Africa,” said Kohli. He signed the agreement with fellow representatives, Zain International’s chief operations officer Jayant Khosla and Ministry of Information and Civic Education minister Reckford Thotho.

    “There will be no job losses. We plan to increase employment to implement the expansion programme. In the three years we will bring down our tariffs and expand into rural areas. We will target farmers,” he added.

    Seven million users are targeted from the current 2.5 million served by Zain. 1.8 million are subscribed users.

    Kohli also revealed the company’s wish to improve local call rates to at least 250 minutes. Malawi currently hovers around 40 minutes of talk time for users. In India, he referenced, subscribers utilize between 400 and 500 minutes per month.

    Malawi experiences serious telecommunications problems in the mobile communications sector. Sometimes networks are down on days due to consistent ‘upgrading’ exercises by mobile communications providers.

Latest News

  1. OPINION: Welcome to African Green Revolution24/05For the past century and a half, Africa has tried various agricultural approaches without much success.
  2. Egyptians vote in historic election23/05Egyptians began voting freely on Wednesday for the first time to pick their president in a wide open election that pits Islamists against men who serv…
  3. Africa Day 2012 - a moment for reflection and…22/0525th May is Africa Day. For many years it has been a celebration of African unity. It dates back to 1963 when the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) …
  4. South Africa's African agenda21/05The Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa, Kgalema Mothlanthe paid a rare visit to Ghana in April at the invitation of John Dramani Mahama …
  5. Women struggle to rinse hunger, poverty stains21/05Just looking at her one clearly appreciates that she is old and frail therefore in need of support for food, clothing and shelter to live comfortably …
  6. Climate Climate change affects migratory birds…21/05Changes in the climate globally have affected the movement of both migratory and resident species of birds, Nature Uganda has said.
  7. Ghana: Foreign retailers cited for currency…18/05The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) is attributing the sharp depreciation of the Ghana cedi against major currencies to the illegal activiti…
  8. Kenya: Community radio brings succour to…18/05Korogocho, a slum in northeastern Nairobi with 100,000 inhabitants, had many of the ingredients for a political explosion similar to those that rocked…
  9. Veld fires 'flame' Zimbabwe's…16/05Over the years, Zimbabwe has experienced the scourge of veld fires destroying property worth thousands of dollars.
  10. Liberia commends ECOWAS for support14/05The induction training of pioneer Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Volunteers for Liberia kicked off in Monrovia, with the Deputy Mi…
  11. Vanishing Lake Chad puts 30m lives at risk14/05As you approach the Lake Chad basin from Maiduguri, in north-eastern Nigeria, the evidence of despair is telling.
  12. Heavy rains cause havoc in Kenya14/05Heavy Rainfall continued to wreak havoc across the country leading to the suspension of relief food in some parts of the country as most roads in Turk…
  13. Zimbabwe: Growth points lie dormant14/05The Zimbabwean government mooted the concept of growth points in the 1980s as a means of decongesting cities and towns.
  14. Sierra Leone improves in infant mortality11/05Sierra Leone has improved in infant mortality cases according to Save the Children- World Motherhood index 2012 report. The West Africa country descri…
  15. Zimbabwe: Resettled farmers fail to utilize…10/05Resettled farmers in Zimbabwe are failing to utilize land due to inadequate farming inputs and lack of resources.
News archive